A group of Chicago reporters gathered around Dwyane Wade's locker inside the United Center on Thursday night before the Bulls' 103-74 loss to the Heat, apparently to stare at their shoes.

Presumably we all came to hear Wade say something to titillate Bulls fans into thinking he actually will abandon South Beach for the South Loop when he becomes a free agent July 1. It's late March in Chicago, so optimism is spreading at epidemic levels.

Wade didn't show, and it really didn't matter. He spent his pregame time signing autographs instead of dropping hints, which only will endear him more to a fan base that gave him a louder ovation during introductions than Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro. After the game, Wade allowed, "It's always great when I come back to Chicago (to) be respected where you spent a lot of years.''

Which somebody in Oak Lawn will interpret as, "I look good in red.''

"Come home to restore the glory days, Dwyane!'' a fan yelled to Wade in the third quarter.

It doesn't take much to excite the masses, and Wade knows it.

Just Wednesday at a Heat practice in town, Wade played along by wearing the appropriate I-am-toying-with-you smirk for the cameras.

Chicago reporter: "What did you think of the Bulls clearing all the salary-cap space?"

Wade, smirking: "I don't know. I haven't thought about it. But it had nothing to do with me.''

A knowing grin suggested otherwise. It also left an impression that Wade enjoys the dance and embraces the art of coy.

Everybody realizes this is a big tease, right?

LeBron James engaged in similar gamesmanship last week when he commended Chicago's basketball IQ, called this one of the best cities in America and praised Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah after giving the Bulls a fourth-quarter clinic.

"They have a lot of great pieces in place,'' James said as we waited for him to suggest Chicago really could be his future home. He didn't. And he won't. Neither will Wade, unless it's for leverage.

Feel free to hold out hope and believe otherwise until they re-sign with their respective teams in July. As for me, the longer the flirtation goes on involving Wade and James, the more I hear a four-letter word echo inside my head.

Bosh, that is.

The Raptors' Chris Bosh also becomes a free agent this summer and is younger, more attainable and less likely to feel a connection to his current team than Wade or James.

Sure, the love between Wade and Chicago is reciprocal, and he and Rose would give the Bulls the most dynamic backcourt in the NBA. But the distractions would be aplenty for Wade, and the bond between him and the Heat franchise for which he won a title, in a glitzy city he enjoys, would be difficult to break.

As for James, yes, you could play six degrees of separation and find everyone from Rose to Brian Urlacher in Chicago who knows someone close to LeBron's inner circle. But the Cleveland area always has been home.

It's just not realistic for the Bulls, and the reasons have less to do with money as misperceptions have suggested. The NBA encourages free agents to stay with their current teams by allowing those teams to offer an extra year on contracts -- six instead of five. All told, that ultimately means Wade or James likely would be weighing roughly six-year, $120 million offers against a 5-year, $98 million max offer the Bulls could extend. The sixth year makes the benefit of staying home deceiving.

There is nothing tricky about why Bosh makes the most sense to pursue.

Averaging 24 points and 11 rebounds, Bosh would give the Bulls a low-post scoring presence they lack and allow the ball to remain in Rose's hands most of the time. At 6-foot-10, his size and athleticism would help stop the kind of punishment the Heat big men again were able to inflict upon the Bulls.

Bosh also may be looking to move on.

The Raptors still lead the Bulls for the East's final playoff spot by 21/2 games but were booed off their home court Wednesday night after losing to the Jazz. Afterward, Bosh -- an outspoken leader the Bulls could use -- complained, "I don't think we have that fire right now.''

But it was Bosh's approach that was questioned recently by Toronto Star columnist Dave Feschuk, who wrote, "The free-agent-to-be often looks like his mind is, er, elsewhere.''

Chicago?

Asked by the Star if a losing season would reflect poorly on him, Bosh shot back.

"No. What else do you want me to do?" he said. "I try to get these guys going, and that's pretty much it. I'm not weak-minded by any means.''

Those are comments more telling about Bulls' free-agent possibilities than anything out of the mouth of Wade or James. Those are the kind of clues a Bulls fan can collect and file away, because they just may lead to something real, something good.